Cattle-dehorner.



(No Model.)

H. TDRGERSDN, CATTLE DEHOBNER.

(Application filed Jan. 18, 1899.)

.m: Nonms PETERS cc. wormurnou WASHINGTON. u. c.

Patented Nov, l4, I899.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFIC'E.

HANS TORGERSON, OF I-IEGBERT, MINNESOTA.

CATTL'E-DEHORN'ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 636,932, dated November14, 1899. Application filed January 18, 1899. Serial No- 702,548. (Nomodel.)

To all whom, it mag/concern.-

Be it known that I, HANS TORGERSON, a citizen of the United States,residing at the town of Hegbert, in the'count-y of Swift and State ofMinnesota, have invented'a new and useful Oattle-Dehorner, of which thefollowing is a specification. I

My invention relates to cattle-dehorners, and has for its object toprovide an apparatus of such a construction as to facilitate itsapplication to the horns of an animal and its antomatic adjustment tothe shape and position of the horns, whereby they may be severed closeto the head.

' Afurther object of the invention is to provide a double dehorner orone wherein both horns are severed simultaneously, the engagement of themembers with the horns being such as to prevent accidental displacementeven should the animalbe loose or untethered and to provide for theoperation of the device while the animal is in movement withoutaffecting the accuracy of the cuts.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will appear in thefollowing description,and the novel features thereof will beparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a dehorning apparatusconstructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2isa face view of oneof the dehorning members. Fig. 3 is a detail view of one of the levers.

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all thefigures of the draw- 1ngs.

The apparatus embodying my invention consists, essentially, of duplicatelaterally spaced or separated knife-carrying members 1 and 2,each ofwhich is provided at the front end of its body portion with a spacedhook-shaped jaw 3, forminga throat for the reception of a horn, saidhook-preferably extending downward to provide for the engagement thereofover the horn, whereby the latter is seated in the upper end of thethroat. This jaw 3 is grooved or channeled longitudinally at 4, andmounted in parallel guides 5, carried by the body portion of the member,is a reciprocatory knife 6, provided at its rear end with-a transverseslot '7, formed by a keeper, which may be attached to or formed'integralwith the knife. In the construction illustrated the body portion and jaw3 of the knife-carrying member consist of a casting, to which isattached a guide-plate having its side edges up turned to formthe'above-described parallel undercut guides 5, in which are seated theside edges of the knife 6, and when the knife is advanced toward the jaw3 itscutting edge is received in the channel or groove 4..-

The body portions of. the knife-carrying members are bifurcated at theirrear ends to form rearwardly-divergent upper and lower arms 8 and9,terminating in bearing-eyes 8 and 9, and mounted in the transverselyopposite or alined bearing-eyes 5) and 9, re-

spectively, are the operating-levers 10 and 11, the trunnions, which areindicated at 10 and 11 respectively, being elongated and threaded toreceive adjustable stops 12 and 13, which in the constructionillustrated consist of nuts. To adapt the apparatus to be applied withfacility to animals having different widths of heads or having the basesof their horns spaced at difierent intervals, I preferably mount theknife-carrying members for lateral movement toward and from each otherby extending said trunnions 10 and 11 to allow movement of thebearingeyes 8 and 9 thereon, outward displacement of said members beingprevented by the stops 12 and 13, and to yieldingly hold saidknifecarrying members at the limits of their inward movement, and henceadapt them for antomatic adjustment to bear against the opposite sidesof the head of the animal, whereby the knives will sever the horns attheir bases, I employ a contractile spring 14, terminally connected tosaid knife-carrying members by anysuitable means, such as yokes 15,embracing the knife carrying members and provided at the centers of theinner sides of the latter with eyes 16, with which the spring isterminally engaged. The knife carrying members must, however,beseparated in applying them to the horns of an animal, and

as it is inconvenient in practice to manually separate the members Ipreferably employ in connection therewith a spacer 17, consisting of abar having shoulders 18 forcontact with the inner surfaces of theknife-carrying members. The length of the bar between the shoulders 18is such as to hold the members at the desired separation or, ifpreferred, at

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the maximum separation, and this bar should be adjusted preparatory toapplying the dehorner to the horns of an animal. Disposing the spacer asindicated in Fig. 1 it is necessary simply to stand in front of theanimal and drop the jaws 3 over the horns, whereupon as the apparatusdrops to its place the contact of the crown of the animals head with theunder side of the spacing-bar will displace the latter and allow thespring 14. to adjust the members inward until stopped by the size of thehead.

The operating-levers are provided beyond their fulcrum pins 10" and 11with operating-pins 19, which engage the transverse slots 7 of theknives, said pins being of sufficient length to allow theabove-described lateral adjustment of the knife-carrying members withoutdisengagement or disarrangement. Thus after the positioning of theapparatus upon the horns of the animal it is only necessary to draw theextremities of the operating-levers toward each other to advance theknives and sever the horns close to the roots. The means which I preferto employ for thus simultaneously drawing the extremities of the leverstoward each other consists of a running connection 20 of a looped ropeor cable terminally attached, respectively, to the ends of the arms andhaving its sides traversing guides 21, each member or side of theconnection being extended from its point of attachment to one leveracross the interval between the levers and through the guide of theother lever, as clearly indicated in Fig. 1. In the constructionillustrated said guides consist of antifriction-rollers, and after theadjustment of the apparatus it is simply necessary to draw upon the loopof the connection to accomplish the desired movement of the levers andthe severing of the engaged horns.

To provide against accidental disengagement of the jaws 3 from the hornsof an animal in case the latter should throw its head or otherwise makean effort to displace the implement, I employ stops 22 for closing thethroats of the knife-carrying members. These stops in the constructionillustrated consist of rods each fitted in one of the guides 5 inposition to extend across the open end of the throat and terminallyengage the end of the channel or groove 4 in the adjacent jaw, said barhaving an angularly-disposed tip 23 for such engagement and also beingprovided at the opposite end with a finger-hold 24 to enable an operatorto properly position it after engaging the jaws with the horns. Thesestops, however, perform the further function of guiding those edges ofthe knives which are adjacent to the mouths or open ends of the throats,the stops being arranged in contact with the inner surfaces of theknives adjacent to their free side edges, and hence preventing theinward deflection of the knives at these points as they are advanced inthe act of severing the .horns. At the opposite side edges of the knivesthe guides are extended, as shown at 25 in Fig. 2; but owing to theinclination or curvature of the horns I have found in practice thatthere is a tendency to deflect the front or operative edges of theknives inward as they are advanced, and hence I prefer to employ theabove-mentioned combined stop and guide 22.

It will be understood that in practice various changes in the form,proportion, and the minor details of construction may be resorted towithout departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantagesof the invention.

Having described my invention, What I claim is 1. In a cattle-dehorner,the combination of spaced knife-carrying members mounted for movement tovary the distance therebetween, yielding means for moving said memberstoward each other, knives, and operating devices for the knives,substantially as specified.

2. In a cattle-dehorner, the combination of spaced knife-carryingmembers mounted for movement to vary the distance therebetween, andhaving knives and knife-operating devices mounted thereon, yieldingmeans for moving said members toward each other, and a removable spacerinterposed between the members for holding them in opposition to saidyielding means, substantially as specified.

3. In a cattle-dehorner, the combination of spaced knife-carryingmembers mounted for movement to vary the distance therebetween, andhaving knives and knife-operating devices mounted thereon, yieldingmeans for moving said members toward each other, and

a shouldered bar removably engaged with said members for holding themseparated in opposition to the tension of said yielding means,substantially as specified.

4. In a cattle-dehorner, the combination of spaced knife-carryingmembers adapted for movement to vary the distance therebetween, knivesand operating devices mounted upon said members, and acontractile-spring connection between said members for automaticallydrawing them toward each other, substantially as specified.

5. In a cattle-dehorner, the combination of spaced knife-carryingmembers adapted for movement to vary the distance therebetween, knivesand operating devices mounted upon said members, yokes engaged with saidmembers, and a contractile spring terminally attached to said yokes fordrawing the members toward each other, substantially as specified.

6. In a cattle-dehorner, the combination of spaced knife-carryingmembers, and reciprocatory knives mounted thereon, operatingleversfulcrumed upon said knife-carrying members and operatively connectedwith the knives, and yielding means for moving the knife-carryingmembers toward each other, substantially as specified.

7. In a cattle-dehorner, the combination of IIO transversely-spacedknife-carrying members and reciprocatory slotted knives mounted thereonand adapted to operatively move in diverging planes and twinoperating-levers fulcrumed upon the knife-carrying members and eachprovided with operating-pins engaging the slots of their respectiveknives and adapted to play in the slots and move the knives when saidlevers are moved.

8. In a cattle-dehorner, the combination with knife-carrying members andreciprocatory knives mounted thereon, said members being provided withspaced bearing-eyes, operating-levers, having intermediate fulcrumpinsmounted in said bearing-eyes, and also having operating-pins engagedwith elongated openings in the knives, and contractile means for drawingthe members toward each other, substantially as specified.

9. In a cattle-dehorner, the combination'of laterally-spacedknife-carrying members, and reciprocatory knives mounted thereon andprovided at their rear ends with transverse slots, said knife-carryingmembers being provided with spaced bearing-eyes, operatinglevers havingintermediate fulcrum -pins mounted in said bearing-eyes and also pro-'vided with operating-pins engaged with said slots of the knives, stopsfor limiting the outward movement of the knife-carrying members upon thefulcrum-pins of the levers, and contractile means for drawing theknife-carrying members toward each other, substantially as specified.

10. Ina cattle-dehorner, the combination of laterally-spacedknife-carryin g members, and reciprocatory knives mounted thereon andprovided at their rear ends with transverse slots, said knife-carryingmembers being provided with spaced bearing-eyes, operatinglevers havingintermediate fulcrum pins mounted in said bearing-eyes and also providedwith operating-pins engaged with said slots of the knives, adjustablestops for limiting the outward movement of the knife-oarrying membersupon the fulcrum-pins of the levers, and contractile means fordrawingthe knife-carrying members toward each other, substantially asspecified.

11. In a cattle-dehorner, the combination with spaced knife-carryingmembers, adapted for movement in converging planes to mutu ally approachand recede, and reciprocatory knives mounted thereon,adapted foreffective operation simultaneously with the movement of saidmembers,operating-leversfulcrumedat intermediate points upon saidknife-carrying members for simultaneously-swinging movement in oppositedirections and engaged with the knives for communicating motion thereto,and a looped flexible connection between said levers, having itsextremities attached respectively to the levers, and having its sidesextended transversely across the interval between the same and throughrunning-guides thereon, substantially as specified.

12. In a oattle-dehorner, the combination with spaced knife-carryingmembers and reciprocatory knives carried by and movable with respect tothe carrying members in diverging planes, said knives being adapted foreffective operation simultaneously with the movement of said members, ofoperating-1e vers fulcrumed at intermediate points upon saidknife-carrying members for simultaneously swinging in oppositedirections, and engaged with the knives forcommunioating motion thereto,and a looped flexible connec tion between said levers having itsextremities attached respectively to the levers, and having its sidesextended transversely across the interval between the same and throughrunning-guides thereof.

13. A cattle-dehorner having a knife-carry ing member provided withahook-shaped jaw spaced from the body portion of the member, areciprocatory knife mounted to traverse the interval between the bodyportion and jaw of the knife-carrying member, means for oper atin g theknife, and a longitudinally-movable stop-bar 22 mounted upon the bodyportion of the knife-carrying member, for extension across, to close,the mouth of the space between said jaw and the body portion of theknife-carrying member, and provided with means for terminal engagementwith said jaw, substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

' HANS TORGERSON.

Witnesses:

P. L. RING, A. N. VIEG.

